Zarathustra
'- Text taken from the Tome of Ah'Kahsej the Wise, Great Librarian of Airdnaxela - ' '- Notes in parentheses added to this translation by me, Mussinee the Bard of Westinshire- ' ' ' ''The Tale of Zarathustra the Martyred & The Repel of the 1st Apocalypse '' ''The Man '' The tale of the Templar Zarathustra is one of great scorn. While little is known to us, (the Zellanax people of Southern Agrabah) about his upbringing, there is much to tell about him once he reached the age of 24 and was sent by his zealous Templar masters along with millions of others to our great Desert on their ravenous religious Crusade (notice the capitalization of desert, possibly out of the Zellanax's reverence for such a harsh place?). The Templars desperately sought to pillage the riches from our Desert cities and strongholds as well as subjugate us into the folds of their priesthood of falsities. Zarathustra was no different, he was an enemy to our peoples upon his arrival. A ruthless force on the battlefield as well as a cunning strategist, he rose quickly through the ranks of his Templar. While he did exceedingly well as a soldier, the majority of the Templar were fool hardy and weak, perpetually inept in regarding the ways of the Desert and how to flourish in her seeming wastes. After many brutal sieges, the final defeat for the Templar came here, in our capital, Airdnaxela. Most of the Templar horde started their long journey home after the end of their Crusade, few stayed to learn the ways of our people and of the Desert, and one, Zarathustra, was so ashamed of his Templar's great defeat that he vowed to trek the desert alone, until the sand ripped the flesh from his bones. ''The Beast '' Gronn the Despoiler - (Former) Lord of the Underworld and Son of Gruumsh was made manifest eons ago in the plane in which only Gods may dwell. His creation wasn't so much a birthing as it was a twisted surgery of dark vision. His form was quite literally ripped from the demented flesh and fire that makes up his own father's 'body'. Being of the same flesh as his father, Gronn knew everything his father had ever known on every subject of Orkish interest, primarily War and how to wage it. Gronn served his father for thousands of years, all while raising his own army of Orks and Demons in secret. (Power hungry, much like his kin) All at once, after epochs of service, Gronn began to wage war against his father. The Gruonosh (The famous war between Gruumsh and his son Gronn), blazed for nearly a a millennium before Gruumsh claimed victory. Being physically unable to kill a portion of his own flesh, Gruumsh was forced to banish Gronn rather than kill him. He did this by carving a magnificently powerful Ork Double Axe (the weapon of his people) which he then endowed with spectacular strength. He then imprisoned the now severed spirit of Gronn inside this weapon. The appearance of the axe was plain in comparison to other Ork Double Axes, save for one thing; at the base of each blade Gruumsh burned the symbol of his Eye, to let all who gaze upon it now of its corruption and the taint which it bore. He then hurled it deep into what would become our Desert, where his son would be imprisoned forever. ''The Death of Zarathustra & The Crimson Tower '' It is unclear to us (the Zellanax) exactly how long Zarathustra wandered in the Desert or exactly when he found what would become known as 'The Axe of Zarathustra', but what we do know is that he found it... or it found him. It is told that he stumbled upon it in an 'oasis of thorns'; the axe floating midair above a pool of stagnant water amidst a small thicket of thorns (no doubt caused by the taint of such a foul being), a thick smell of putrescence was in the air and flies swarmed about this 'oasis'. Wrought with thirst, Zarathustra drank from the pool underneath the Axe without a moment's hesitation. The pool was liquid essence of Gronn and his evil which had been seeping out of the axe for centuries. Suddenly there was a voice in Zarathustra's head not his own. Suddenly compelled to do so, Zarathustra took the axe from the air; with this motion Zarathustra was no more. Gronn had taken his body. Absolving all of Zarathustra's know-how and training on top of his own Godly prescience and knowledge, Gronn wandered away from his Desert prison and headed North, back to Zarathustra's home town and the headquarters of the Templar. After a few years of travel and much waiting Gronn arrived in Zarathustra's town (name lost in the Zellanaxian records) and was greeted with a hero's welcome. Gronn feverishly played along as best he could but the townsfolk and the Templar sensed a change in their champion though they still foolishly held him in very high esteem. Our great enemy had been infiltrated by the greatest enemy to ever walk Midgard. They assigned their Lord Templar a mission of incredible importance, dispatch of one known as 'The Crimson King', a son of Moradin - God of the Dwarfs, who had been placed in charge of The Underworld and resided in a massive tower a week's journey from town. Gronn saw in this a magnificent opportunity and took the orders without question. Gronn was joined on this mission by 3 other adventurers (who will be key figures in this beast's later history). Together they fought their way through the Crimson King's stronghold and after a long tireless battle defeated him. Upon the death of this being, Gronn leapt upon the body, removed the King's crown, placed it on Zarathustra's head (his own head) and vanished into a puff of fire. ''The Apocalypse Thwarted '' '' '' Now it was long thought that 'Zarathustra' had died that day. In reality what had happened was that The Underworld had found itself a new king. An Ork God King. With all the powers of The Underworld at his disposal, Gronn was able to separate his spirit from Zarathustra's frail form (which was now nothing more than a soulless undead) and make manifest his own godly flesh again. Hidden from his father's view, Gronn began building an army to dwarf his force used in the Gruonosh. This new force was comprised primarily of Demons, Undead, and what he called, Fel Orks; Orks which he had specially trained and infused with droplets of his own sickening blood. Zarathustra, still under Gronn's powerful persuasion, was given the title 'The Martyred' and was made General of this new Army and was decorated as such. Fiery chains were pushed into his shoulders to be used as lashes on the troops, large bone rings were pushed through the palms of his hands (the highest mark of honor in this armada), and always in his hands was the Axe. Using this army Gronn began tunneling through the sky of The Underworld and back into Midgard, into the Deserts of Agrabah, our Deserts. Upon breaking ground, Gronn had his impenetrable stronghold of Karnossh built, it would be from here that he would orchestrate the destruction of Midgard, flooding The Underworld with new souls for him to manipulate into fighting his second Gruonosh. We (The Zellanax) came into contact with this new force first of course, being people of the Desert. (they had of course, no idea the magnitude of danger they were in, they thought them merely roaming bands of orks) Vicious in combat, we had extreme difficulty killing these new red skinned Orks. In our desperation we conscripted 2 mercenaries, friends of the one that was formally Zarathustra (all though these 2 had never truly known him), they had in fact aided Gronn in his conquest of the Crimson Tower and his seizure of The Underworld. Somehow these two humans, against all odds, discovered Gronn's plot and through many blood drenched battles, dispatched Zarathustra the Martyred and destroyed not only Gronn's training camp for the Fel Orks but also Gronn's portal back to The Underworld. Cut off from all reinforcements Gronn was left only with his forces at Karnossh which was now far easier to infiltrate. The 2 heros broke into Gronn's last sanctum with the aid of our people (the Zellanax) and were, through trickery and deceit, able to defeat Gronn on his own ground. It is said that upon his demise, Gruumsh himself appeared and pulled Gronn back to his realm to finish what he had begun millennia before.